Major house flood. What next?

[ourbathroomflooded]

We had work done on our bathroom one week ago, it was completely refit.

I was sitting in the bath and had been for about 15 minutes yesterday evening when I heard an almighty bang, soon followed by gushing of water. Water was escaping at a ridiculous rate from a pipe within the built-in under sink cupboard. Within minutes the bathroom was flooded in ankle deep water.

We have only owned the house for 3 months and in my sheer panic I had no idea where to find the stop tap. It wasn’t under any of the obvious kitchen cupboards where you would expect it to be. DH knew but he was at work at the time and couldn’t get hold of him. By the time I’d figured it out and turned off water had probably been flowing for 10 minutes.

The kitchen is directly below the bathroom so water was streaming through the ceiling lights and also resulted in the kitchen being ankle deep in water. DH, myself and my parents managed to mop most of it up last night but there are water marks on the ceiling and we’re all concerned about the impact to the kitchen cupboards and if they will swell with water damage. The first metre or so of the carpet adjacent to the kitchen and the landing carpet adjacent to the bathroom are also saturated with water.

The plumber / property solutions company was checkatrade registered and had great reviews but it’s glaringly obvious that this happened because they did not seal two pipes together - pretty crucial mistake. I don’t think it was triggered by the bath and was basically waiting to happen, I suppose fortunate in a way that we were in and awake to deal with it.

We are currently staying with my parents who are helping us to sort it out. What are the next steps now? I’m hoping it will go through the company’s insurance but not sure where we stand as he finished the work last Monday.
We have building and contents insurance of course but not sure when the right time is to contact them or if we should try to get the company to claim and put it right. If we need new carpets and the kitchen being redone, it’s not going to be quick.

I’m 37 weeks pregnant and with high BP so this is the last thing we needed by all accounts. I have no idea of time scales (surely this won’t be quick?) and panicking about living with family temporarily with a newborn, as it’s not what we imagined at all.

Sorry if this is a garbled post. If anyone has any reassurance, similar experience or suggestions I would be really grateful. Even just calm logic which I don’t seem to have right now!

Thank you :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed response, it is really really helpful. Sorry you experienced similar - really not nice is it.

We have home legal protection through the insurance policy. Luckily we’re not in an area impacted by bad weather this weekend so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long.

Don’t buy a dehumidifier or equipment, that’s really bad advice, the insurance company will contract a professional drying out company with high quality kit, that would cost you a fortune to buy.

If you start bigging up anything you are going to cause problems. Be normal! Insurance is there to help not start a battle, if you do start bigging up and behaving fraudulently they’ll be on you and rightly so!
call your insurer- they’ll take matters up with the plumbers insurer.

Your insurer will tell you what to do. Take pictures of all damage before you clear up or remove anything. Open windows and air it as much as possible. They should send someone and supply a dehumidifier to help dry it out. If there is any r,evals to be done it should be covered and you may need a certificate to state it is fully dry before redecorating,

In terms of time, similar happened to dm. The assessors came out in days but the process to dry out and reinstate took a couple of months. She was able to use a local builder but your insurer may have a panel they use.

This, don't start dramatising. Be clear and factual with the information and make realistic demands such as needing X amount of dehumidifiers. Stop worrying about mould. You don't have mould, you had a leak, if it's dried out properly you won't have mould. It doesn't just magically appear at the same time as a leak. Honestly this will all be sorted, insurance companies have dealt with it a million times, just keep on them.

It needn’t necessarily, depends who you’re with. I’ve had a really good experience with First Direct, who not only responded very quickly, but they also kept the pressure on their supplier to keep coming back (3 times in total) until we were completely happy. I had a direct number to call and the names of the people dealing with our claim, and they followed up several times to make sure everything was ok before closing the job.

Sorry this has happened, OP - it’s really shit, especially if you’re pregnant. I hope you have a similarly good experience with your insurer. My advice would be to document absolutely everything - the site of the fault and every single bit of damage. Photos, measurements, inventory of what needs to be made good or replaced, so you can ensure your schedule of works agrees with the loss adjuster’s and nothing gets missed. You’ll have trouble adding on extras if anything’s been overlooked, but if it’s all agreed up front you should be fine.

We had similar (although not as bad) a year ago. As others have said, call your insurance company and they will sort it. Our leak happened in the middle of the night, we called our insurers in the morning and a loss adjuster came out the same day. Damp company came out following day to start the dehumidification process, we had four industrial dehumidifiers going for 12 hours a day for about 4 weeks. Then it was redecorated. Damage wasn’t bad enough to warrant us moving out so we lived around it.

Be prepared to have the floor taken up upstairs so they can get a dehumidifier in the floor void.

Also if you have a water meter, it’s often easier to turn the water off at the meter than find the stopcock.

If the property is habitable , once the pipe is repaired, you won't be temporarily rehoused. It probably looks worse than it is.

I'm sorry this has happened, and the timing is awful too. Is your DH taking the lead on this? Because he should be. You have enough to think about with the imminent arrival of your baby. Try to step back and let him sort it. You have your health to think about now, and you won't have the time or headspace once you've had the baby.

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Our roof was struck by lightning just over a month ago and it hasn't been easy.

Be prepared to stand your ground about temporary accommodation. Initially we were in premier inn but insisted that we could take the family to an Airbnb. The claims handler was a bit difficult on costs initially, he found cheaper airbnbs a long way from us - too far from schools, work etc so had to stand my ground to be allowed to book somewhere suitable.

The insurance company was very quick to send out a surveyor who said he would get quotes for everything and then would either offer us a cash settlement so we can find our own workmen or they would organise it all. That was weeks ago now though and they haven't even priced everything up.

In the meantime, I'm tearing my hair out, trying to juggle Airbnb bookings because of cause there's nothing suitable long term, so regularly having to pack the car up and take the kids to a new place. It's costing the insurers an absolute fortune.

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested a 6 month let as being more cost effective and better for family life. The insurers initially wouldn't agree, but came back to us last week to tell us to find a tenancy. That in itself hasn't been easy, a lot of letting agencies won't speak to you if they know it's a 6 month rental you want and won't listen when you say you're happy to cover the landlords expenses.

This has honestly been the most stressful time of my life. I cannot imagine having to face this whilst heavily pregnant.

If your baby stuff didn't get drenched, I would get that moved out asap.

Good luck with your insurers. Ours were more helpful than I feared, but everything is just so painfully slow.

Good luck op.

How horrible for you op. I've got experience of a huge insurance claim and it's stressful. If you're with one of the big companies it will all go smoothly. Churchill and First Direct are part of the same organisation and are really good. The issues seem to be with some of the smaller companies who try and cut corners.
Check your policy to see how much they cover for alternative accommodation. If it's deemed necessary, they will find you a rental while the work is done and arrange packers/removals etc. As stressful as this is, it might be better than living through the work. You won't have to move all your stuff, just the bits you need. if you do decide to stay with your parents instead make sure you claim money back for that too.
Take photos of absolutely everything that's been affected. It's surprising how much things add up. You will need to provide a detailed list of everything so they can give you the money for replacing.
i agree with a pp that your partner should be taking a lead on this. Good luck with the baby!

I agree with @DiliGaff that the tenancy is stressful if you're tied to an area for schools or nurseries (we were). We were told to look for year long tenancies with a 6-month break clause, and we did eventually find something. We also got the insurance to agree pay over the rental price to in order secure ours, so worth bearing in mind.

Thank you everyone. So the update is they won’t send a loss adjuster without us opening a claim and paying the excess.

The plumbing /property maintenance company have offered to replace all affected flooring, get an electrician to verify the electrics are safe once it’s dried out in 2-3 days, and they are going to sort the bathroom. They will also take care of decorating the ceiling. They have accepted fault and brought one heat lamp for the kitchen. They said the house isn’t actually that damp, the worst of the moisture is in the kitchen

Should we leave them to proceed or not? I’m worried about any water that might have got between the bathroom floor and the kitchen ceiling.

Why are you not opening a claim?

Worried about how long it will take.

What about any subsequent damage or contents? If there insulation beneath the floor it will be sodden, heavy and take a while to dry out fully.

I understand you're worried about how long it will take, especially with a baby on the way. But you really can't be too careful when it comes to flood damage. I would strongly advise against going with the solution offered by the plumbing /property maintenance company.

They're promising to fix it, but do you trust them? What happens if you disagree on what work needs doing, or they decide to cut corners / use cheaper materials? Also you say they've bought a heat lamp, do you mean a dehumidifier?

I'd be really concerned about the drying time. Water damage takes much longer than you imagine to show itself. After our flood everything immediately looked fine but gradually the damage became evident over the following week. You can't fix it until it's fully dry otherwise you will run into problems. So I guess it depends on how bad the damage is. If you go down this route you need to be really careful they don't rush things. They should be paying for industrial drying equipment to help things along.

Sorry but that's madness. Claim through your insurance and get things done properly.

Should we leave them to proceed or not?

Fuck no. They will cut corners etc. They will claim it’s dry when it really isn’t then you really will be exposing baby to a mould problem?

I’m worried about any water that might have got between the bathroom floor and the kitchen ceiling

Well, yes, it likely has.

The crucial thing here is to get insurance involved and insist it is all rectified properly. This is going to take a lot of time. Just accept this. Better that than expose a baby to ongoing mould issues because you wanted a rush fix that wasn’t really a fix🙄. Good luck getting insurance to fix it down the line if you haven’t claimed at the time.

Your approach is truly baffling.

I had a much smaller sounding leak from the boiler through the kitchen ceiling, causing water damage in the kitchen and part of the ceiling to fall in. Dealing with the insurance was stressful and time-consuming, but it took a couple of weeks to dry out and sounds like a lot less water than you had. I would be worried about how good a job this company will do. My insurance company subcontracted the job to a company that specialises in dealing with houses damaged by floods/ fire/ storms so were the experts.

Insurance insurance insurance.

pay the deductible get the claim open and tell the plumber that you want them to reimburse you for it.

every time you call the insurance company ask them to note on your file that you are 37 weeks pregnant with high bp and at risk of being induced early. That means they will treat you with kid gloves and likely fast track your claim. You should be allocated one point of contact at the insurance company who will deal with your claim, get their name and a direct number and email address. Then put in an email to them your pregnancy high risk stuff, so they have it in writing

Get them to rent you a rental property near by, so you have the same access to the hospital you are going to deliver in. Make sure it is at least 2 bed and not up a load of stairs or no parking. Then get them to pay for removals people who will pack for you and unpack for you…as you are v pregnant and high risk. Take all the baby stuff as you will bring baby home to the rental.

If you werent pregnant with high bp, you could maybe tough it out at home but insurance is for situations like this, so use it.

then get the works started on photographing the house, they should bring in a specialist company to assess what is recoverable, what is not and the replacement value for that. Insist on every last paper napkin being paid for as there is a lot that wont get covered or found until too late. If your DH is too busy at work to oversea this, and your DM or DF are competent at this sort of thing, ask them to oversee the assessors..you should stay away to keep your bp down.

once the losses are assessed, they will then get contractors to come and fix the damage.

i would plan on being in the rental for 3 months, so the 100k allowance should cover somewhere nice

I strongly recommend that you make a claim with your own insurers.

If you don’t do that and leave it all to the plumbing company to resolve, you’ll have no comeback later if the plumbing company take shortcuts and don’t do a thorough job. They've already cocked up once so I’d be wary in your shoes.

I'm an LA. Honestly just go through your own Insurance. Might "only" be the kitchen (I doubt it to be honest), but that's probably the worst room to be effected. If the water was as deep as you're saying I would be amazed if your kitchen units and other furniture escapes and dries without swelling, plus you'll have the upheaval and mess of all the works needed to make good the damage.

What will happen if you let them sort it out is they'll do the bare minimum to keep you happy. You'll end up quibbling with them about small things that become apparent with time/drying, but it'll all mount up. Absolutely do not wait on their Insurance kicking in- this is what I do, and quite frankly it moves even slower than a first party claim. Insurers have to be fully satisfied that policy cover engages, that their policyholder is liable and there isn't a possibility that it can be directed elsewhere (eg., subcontractor, manufacturer). The onus would also be on you to arrange drying, repairs, etc and claim it back, whereas with your own home insurance they will have services to at least do the emergency bits, if not the repairs themselves. Plus by going through the plumbers' Insurance you don't get new for old like your own policy will more than likely provide- a lot of people don't realise this and then wonder why they're only being offered 70% or whatever of the repair costs.

Go through your Insurance and make it super clear you're heavily pregnant, at the end of a high risk pregnancy and therefore vulnerable. Your condition should be taken into account and every effort made to accommodate your needs.

In terms of temp accommodation, if you do have an offer to stay with family (say if they think repair works can be done quickly and you want to be with your mum due to circumstances) you're still entitled to an allowance for that.